He also urged clients to start raising cash in late 2007, as the market hit then-record highs before its plummet. That track record is why Raymond James’ clients packed the Horseshoe Casino Cincinnati on Wednesday night to hear Saut discuss the current market climate. The event was coordinated by John Ryan, who runs Raymond James’ local office.

Although we’re five years into a bull run that’s seen the market rise 140 percent from its 6,763.30 March 2, 2009, close, Saut said he doesn’t see anything – besides an unforeseen disaster – derailing the market’s momentum.

“I think we’re in a secular bull market. Very few people believe that, because they don’t think that’s possible with a dysfunctional government, unemployment higher than what it should be at this stage of the recovery, and GDP growth lower than what it should be at this stage,” he said.

“And what they don’t get is that the equity markets don’t care about the absolutes of good or bad. All the equity markets care about is: Are things getting better, or are things getting worse? And things are getting better.”

Saut says two trends in particular are transformative. One is the United States’ move toward energy independence through technologies like hydraulic fracturing, known as fracking.

“Ten years ago, for every three barrels of oil we were using, we were importing two. We’re now importing one, and it will be zero by 2020. It’s a big tax-revenue and jobs generator,” Saut said. “I can spin you a scenario whereby we drill the public land, sell crude oil on the world markets and the deficit disintegrates.”

The other trend is the so-called onshoring of manufacturing jobs back to the United States.

Some of Saut’s examples:

• Samsung is building a $4 billion plant in Austin, Texas.

• Airbus is building a $600 million plant in Mobile, Ala.

• BMW announced a $900 million expansion of its Greensboro, S.C., plant in 2012, and on Friday said it will make an additional $1 billion investment in the plant and hire 800 more workers.

“The American industrial renaissance, where manufacturing is coming back into the country, is absolutely for real,” he said.

Now in his fourth decade of studying markets, Saut said he draws upon a reservoir of technical skill, experience and common sense, which investors tend to overlook.

“People try to make it real complicated, but when was the first time you noticed that the only store in the mall that was always packed was the Apple store? Or the first time you noticed that the Panera Bread parking lot was always packed at noon?

“You can observe a lot just by watching, to quote Yogi Berra. (Investing) is more of an art than a science. If it was a science, anybody with the highest horsepower computer would be a winner, and that’s not the way it is.” ⬛